(Reuters) -U.S. drug distributor Cencora raised its annual profit forecast on Wednesday after posting quarterly earnings that topped Wall Street estimates, buoyed by surging demand for specialty therapies and blockbuster weight-loss drugs.
The Philadelphia-based company now expects its annual adjusted profit between $15.85 and $16.00 per share, up from its previous expectation of $15.70 to $15.95 per share. Analysts, had expected a profit of $15.83 per share, according to LSEG data.
The robust results underscore how Cencora and its peers Cardinal Health and McKesson Corp are capitalizing on the increasing U.S. demand for high-margin medicines that treat complex conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.
“Our teams are fueling our growth as they identify opportunities and customer-centric solutions that strengthen our value proposition as the partner of choice,” CEO Robert Mauch said in a statement.
Leerink Partners analyst Michael Cherny said “the underlying drivers of the guidance increase were more impressive to us than the headlines.”
Sales at Cencora’ U.S. Healthcare Solutions unit, its biggest revenue driver, jumped 8.5% to $72.9 billion in the quarter ended June 30, buoyed by strong prescription volumes of GLP-1 class drugs used for diabetes and weight loss, as well as higher sales of specialty medicines to physician practices and health systems.
The company said its improved forecast reflects “stronger earnings growth in the U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment,” which has benefited from heightened demand for complex and costly therapies such as GLP-1 drugs, including Novo Nordisk’s NOVOb.CO> Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.
Cencora reported a third-quarter profit of $4 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.84 per share.
Total sales were $80.66 billion during the quarter, above the estimates of $80.14 billion.
(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan and Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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